The cub leaves the tribe

March 12, 2008

So when do you decide it’s time to leave the home and go?

Imagine for a moment, you had a home so secure, a family so lovely, relatives so bonded and where you see it’s a perfect place to be at. The neighbours adore you. You love your brothers and sisters. And in fact, your family keeps growing every quarter of the month. It really is such a heavenly place. When you have problems with one another, you get straight to it and tell each other how you feel. You don’t wear masks to protect yourself- there’s no need to. And most of the times, your family can even smell it if you put on a mask, for whatever reason what so ever. It’s such a close knit surrounding. Of course, your family members still need to work hard to keep the family alive. But you never think about the financials. What matters is your happy, and everyone else is too. It’s heaven, in a sense. Where every where else is chaotic and full of distrust, and undisclosed anger, here is where it’s all clean and healthy.

On the other hand, there’s another world out there left unexplored, left undiscovered. And for every comfort your family gives you, and the assurance, and the love and support, you know that it is more than enough. But you can’t just help to wonder, “How is it like, outside these walls?”

And the adventure instinct part of you starts to stir and imagine all the possibilities that the world out there holds. You probably don’t know how it’s like. You’ve heard of all the misfits and at the same time, of the fortunes of the world. It sounds like such a…. dream.

Meanwhile, feelings stir within you at home, you don’t want to remain the same. In the family, you serve a role. You are the son/brother/daughter/sister/mother/father/cousin/. And even though you find yourself happy, you are sick of playing that role. You want a different life. But you worry, how your family might think if you suddenly changed into a different somebody. You want to separate. You don’t want to have to explain. You don’t want to be restricted by their opinions on you. As it turns out, you can never be satisfied just staying there all your life. But, you feel that if you step beyond, you risk losing whatever you had in your family.